


Pomp and Circumstance

by Faiz



Series: Lessons in Domesticity [10]
Category: Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3797167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiz/pseuds/Faiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley FINALLY graduates High School, and Chase finally gets to see his boyfriend again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pomp and Circumstance

**Author's Note:**

> Halfway through writing this I realized I had no idea where I was going with it. I'm still posting it anyways, ha!

On paper, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea to the entire team. One ranger left, and the other replaced him. Yet even if it made complete and utter sense, Chase wished it could be anything other than that. He had grown more and more anxious as the end of summer vacation loomed nearer and nearer with every passing day. Chase sat on Riley’s bed pouting as the younger male began packing up all his things and even helped him put it in RJ’s car so Riley could go back home. 

Summer vacation had ended, and Riley had to go back to school. 

What did that mean for the team? Well, they had two Griffin brothers now, not one. Even though Matt had become a ranger, he wasn’t exactly a permanent member. He had been constantly in and out, not always there to help out because he went between the Griffin ranch and Amber Beach much more often than Riley did, because the ranch needed care and they couldn’t just continually rely on family to help them out. Now that Riley was going back home for school for the time being, he was going to be put in charge of the ranch while attending school while Matt stayed in Amber Beach to help out the rest of the rangers.

When they stood in front of Riley’s uncle’s house, the younger boy hugged him tightly and assured him that the school year would fly by before they knew it. That they had skype, texting, and Chase was always welcome to visit the ranch if he had the time. And that Chase had uni to focus on as well, so he wouldn’t even have time to dwell on being sad. And even more to look forward to, Riley was going to the University of Amber Beach when he was done with high school. But it still hurt, having to see Riley turn his back on him to get into RJ’s car so he could go home. And it still hurt when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he saw a little smiley emoji that Riley had sent him.

And the school year had been incredibly busy. Chase had had a constant pile of homework since day one, Mechanical Engineering proving itself to be one tough major. But he worked through it, though now he rarely saw the team outside of working at the Dino Bite and during any ranger duties they had. Though he did see Shelby once and awhile on campus, but as they were majoring in different fields they didn’t have any classes together and would only ever manage a smile and a nod as they passed by each other on the way to class.

Tyler didn’t go to school, he only shrugged the day Chase asked and said ‘College just isn’t really my thing I guess!’ which sounded like something most people would think Chase would say. Koda and Ivan went on their random day trips, trying to teach themselves about the modern world. Those tended to end very well or incredibly horribly, from the stories he hear from them. Both Matt and Kendall had graduated college, but Kendall spent her time at the museum while Matt favored staying at home with Casey and RJ. Chase wasn’t sure if Matt had entirely warmed up to the rest of the team just yet. 

Which left Chase mostly on his own, at least not including his Uni friends. Though he was very quick to change plans with them whenever he and Riley had agreed to skype with each other. 

“So, are you excited?” Riley asked, grinning at Chase from his computer screen. 

“Of course, I haven’t seen you in ages.” Chase grinned, leaning back on his dorm bed and adjusting his laptop. “But what about you, Mr. Graduate? Happy to be done with high school?”

Riley laughed. “Of course I am. Though I’m more excited about seeing all of you guys again, it feels like it’s been forever. I can’t believe all of you are coming to the ceremony though. That’s easily going to double the amount of people already going.” Riley yawned suddenly, making Chase laugh at the slightly high pitched sound that Riley let out as a result.

“Sounds like someone should be heading to bed.” 

Riley flipped him off, but nodded. “Alright, alright. I admit defeat. See you soon then?”

“See you soon, love.” 

It turns out that Riley was right when he constantly said he went to a rather small school. The graduation ceremony was taking place on the soccer field next to the school building, and after a quick count, Chase confirmed that there were only 10 graduates. That at least made it incredibly easy to pick out Riley from the group when he and the rest of the team had arrived. He could see the younger man talking animatedly to another classmate, both of them laughing at something Riley had said. Shelby was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet looking around. She had been excited about seeing where Riley grew up, ever since she had learned he lived on a ranch apparently. Even after all of the downsides that Riley had pointed out to her, she hadn’t gotten it out of her head.

“I want to go talk to Kermit!” Shelby pouted, letting Tyler wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“We should probably wait until after the ceremony though, when we have more time. Looks like a teacher is talking to them now anyways.” Tyler pointed out. “The ceremony is going to start soon.”

Sure enough it seemed like the ceremony was about to begin, as a teacher began assembling the 10 students into a proper line and trying to get them to calm down and stop rough-housing with each other. It was fairly obvious to Chase that they had in fact known each other for a very long time. They had known each other from K-12, at least from what Riley had told him. At that moment Riley seemed to finally notice Chase was standing there, and before they began marching down towards their own chairs in a line Riley excitedly waved at Chase. Though by then the band had started to play. (Though calling them a band was pushing it, it was a violinist, violist, and a cellist, and they looked to be some underclassmen.) 

The graduation was a quick one, with a couple of speeches filled with inside jokes that the rangers didn’t really get, and some excited silly jokes. Though Riley most definitely got the biggest burst of applause when he accepted his diploma thanks to the rangers and his family, and it was all worth it when it was over and done with and the first thing Riley did was make a beeline towards Chase and threw his arms around him.

“Congratulations, Bambi.” Chase mumbled into Riley’s hair.

He wished he could give Riley a kiss like he so desperately wanted to, but Riley had warned him beforehand that a majority of the people at his school had no idea he was gay. He didn’t want to be that dick to out Riley, so he settled for a hug and letting go so the rest of the team could pile onto their youngest member. Chase laughed as Riley disappeared under the hugs of his friends, and he could hear Shelby repeatedly saying ‘Kermit, Kermit, Kermit!’ as she took off Riley’s graduation cap and messed up his hair.

But getting back to the Griffin Ranch couldn’t get there any faster, and as soon as they were back and everyone was busy scrambling around getting the barbeque set up, Riley was the one who pulled Chase away from the group and held onto his hand as they walked across the vast expanse of farmland towards a forest nearby. 

“We’re getting close to the place where I got my Energem…” Riley pointed out, as he let go of Chase’s hand and ran ahead. “You know, I’ve been to this part so many times and sat on that rock so many times when I was younger. Who knew that my Energem was right by me for so long?”

Chase grinned. “And you earned it because you jumped in front of fucking _Fury_ to protect your dog.”

Riley stuck his tongue out at him. “And you saved a kitty from being crushed by a truck.”

“Honestly though, who keeps a kitten in a pram? Moana is weird, but I like her.”

Riley shook his head. “Enough about that, aren’t you going to congratulate me? Properly this time?”

Chase smirked and wrapped his arms around Riley’s waist. “But of course, love.” He leaned down and kissed Riley. “Though now that you’re coming to UAB that means we’ll have plenty more where that came from.”

Riley smiled into the kiss and whispered. “I can’t wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I legitimately get obsessive over details about the rangers' personal lives for some reason. Like how long I spent creating a reason for Chase to be in the US (studying abroad and getting his Mechanical Engineering degree, he's living with some other study abroad students and is working at the museum to help pay rent) or focusing too hard on the fact that if Matt and Riley both left home it'd be just their mom working on the ranch. Why am I so obsessed with detail?? The world may never know.
> 
> Also Shelby-Calling-Riley-Kermit 2k15. Someone needs to call him Kermit. And Shelby is that someone.


End file.
